


A Very Corvosider Christmas

by Neriad13



Category: Dishonored (Video Games)
Genre: Awkward First Times, Christmas!, Dishonored Christmas is mildly horrifying but it turns out alright, M/M, Poetry
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-19
Updated: 2017-12-19
Packaged: 2019-02-16 19:40:55
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 10,975
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13060812
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Neriad13/pseuds/Neriad13
Summary: On the longest night of the year, when the boundary between the Void and reality grows thin, the Outsider walks among us in human form.Bar your doors and lock your windows. Sing so loud that His voice cannot be heard. Feast and be merry - and shut out the gloom.And do not ever eventhinkabout letting him in.





	A Very Corvosider Christmas

**Author's Note:**

  * For [adrift_me](https://archiveofourown.org/users/adrift_me/gifts).



> Merry Christmas, Drift!
> 
> Smut is in the section after "Have Yourself a Merry Little Voidstice," should you desire to skip or jump ahead. >.>

Bar the doors and draw the curtains, Fa la la la la la la la!  
On Darkest Night, we’ll suffer no urchins, Fa la la la la la la la!  
Don we now our rich apparel, Fa la la la la la la la!  
Sing we all the Voidstice carols, Fa la la la la la la la! 

Eat the scrumptious feast before us, Fa la la la la la la la!  
Burn the Void God, join the chorus, Fa la la la la la la la! 

Follow me in merry measure, Fa la la la la la la la!  
As we partake in our pleasure, Fa la la la la la la la! 

Fast away the long night passes, Fa la la la la la la la!  
Hail the morn, ye hed’nist masses, Fa la la la la la la la!  
Sing we joyous all together! Fa la la la la la la la!  
While the Void God Winter weathers, Fa la la la la la la la! 

\- Gristollian Voidstice Carol 

Month of Darkness, 1838

The Outsider trudged through the empty streets, his feet shuffling through the snow, his hands tucked under his armpits, the howling wind clawing at his frostbitten ears. His eyes and nose were streaming, the tears turning to ice on his face as fast as he could wipe them off. His fingers were frozen and his toes were numb. A sob rose up in his chest at every cruel buffet of wind, at every closed door he passed by. 

_Please,_ the scared child that had once lived inside him begged, _Anyone…_

When he looked at them from the corner of his eye, the buildings of Dunwall warped and twisted into grim facsimiles of themselves and the sound of the wind hummed with the discordant music of the Void. On this night, he was neither here nor there, but in the unfathomable space in between. He was neither a god nor human, but he was lost beyond all reason.

He kept his eyes to the ground, focusing all his effort on the simple act of putting one foot in front of the other, on moving, on keeping warm. 

A spark of an idea burned at the back of his mind, lighting the way momentarily. But the wind snuffed it out with a single, brutal gust and the streets groaned as they shifted beneath his feet, leading him to nothing but a series of dead ends and broken dreams.

***

Lost ghosts sing  
Are you listening?  
In the Void  
Stone is glistening  
A terrible sight,  
We're afraid tonight  
Walking in an empty twisted land

Gone away, is all reason  
Here to stay, is Darkest Season  
We sing a brave song,  
As we go along  
Walking in an empty twisted land 

In the Abbey we can light some incense  
And drive out the Void for just a bit  
The Outsider’ll tempt us  
We’ll send him hence  
And come the early morning  
He’ll be gone 

Later on  
We'll conspire  
As we dream by the pyre  
To face unafraid  
The places we’ve strayed  
Walking in an empty twisted land 

Lost ghosts sing  
Are you listening?  
In the Void  
Stone is glistening  
A terrible sight,  
We're afraid tonight  
Walking in an empty twisted land 

\- Gristollian Voidstice Carol 

It didn’t look a thing like him.

Corvo smirked as he examined the thing. He had burned many effigies before, on Voidstices past, thinking nothing of it. It had been a strange new tradition to him, when he’d left home for Gristol. In Serkonos, Voidstice was a much more somber affair, celebrated with little more than long, boring Abbey services and candles kept burning throughout the night to keep the darkness at bay. 

In Dunwall, things were rather more extravagant. 

A servant, her cheeks rosy red from the cold, had given one to each guest as they entered Dunwall Tower - a little effigy of the Outsider made of dried sweetgrass, sage and heather, with a pair of cloves inserted between the blades of grass to serve as eyes. He wore bits of perfume-soaked felt and his neck was adorned with a bright red ribbon. 

Having seen the real thing since the last Voidstice he’d celebrated, it didn’t at all compare. Even so, he felt a twinge of guilt as the High Overseer fanned the sacrificial fire. The party proper could not start until the effigies had been burned to ash.

The chattering guests gathered into an orderly line as the fire grew hot and the High Overseer rang his ceremonial bell. Corvo scanned the room quickly, his heart thudding in his chest when he thought that he’d lost track of Emily. But no, there she was - among a group of noblemen’s children, poking her effigy’s eyes out of its head and sticking them back in. 

He stepped into her field of view and offered his hand to her. With a smile, she popped the Outsider’s eye back in and let him lead her to the head of the line. 

The effigies crackled and popped as they threw them on the pyre together, the little scrap of ribbon curling away into glowing embers, the sweetgrass being burned to nothing long before the eyes turned to ash. The room filled a sweet-smelling smoke as each guest cast their doll onto the fire, most of them spitting an insult on the Outsider’s name as they did so, before making a beeline straight for the bar. 

He had never truly believed that the Outsider walked in corporeal form this night or that the Void merged with the human world as the stories said. That, he’d always imagined, was more of a fantasy to keep children in line more than anything. But, he had to admit, the long darkness of the Winter Solstice does strange things to a person’s mind. It was not at all uncommon to hear stories of people hopelessly lost in familiar places on Darkest Night, stumbling off cliffs where streets were supposed to be, seeing things - vast, unknowable forms - swimming through the midst of a blizzard. It was generally believed to be dangerous idea, venturing outside on a night like this, when the power of the Void was nearer than at any other point in the year.

All of a sudden, the image popped into his head, unbidden - the Outsider, not as the monster that the Abbey had portrayed him as, not as the malevolent entity derided in carols - but as a lone man, all alone in the cold, dark night. 

He hoped he was well, wherever he was.

***

You better watch out  
You better stand tall  
Better not doubt  
He’s tempting us all  
The Outsider is walking the streets

He's knocking on doors  
Trying to break in  
Gonna find out who’s guilty of sin  
The Outsider is walking the streets 

He sees you when you're dreaming  
He knows when you're awake  
He knows if you've been paying him mind  
So your Strictures don’t forsake! 

O! You better watch out!  
You better stand tall  
Better not doubt  
The Outsider’s tempting us all  
The Outsider is walking the streets  
The Outsider is walking the streets 

\- Gristollian Voidstice Carol 

The window shown with warm light, a shining beacon in the swirling dark. The Outsider shambled towards it, slipping on the ice hidden just below the powdery snow, falling into the wall of the building he sought. Gritting his teeth, he heaved himself back to his feet and peered through the window, his breath fogging the thick glass. 

There were people inside, wrapped in brightly-colored garb, sipping hot beverages that steamed in their mugs. The rafters were wound with garlands and ribbons, brilliant trinkets of unknown use hanging in all corners. He saw a couple standing beneath a little growth of greenery dangling from the rafters, their lips passionately interlocked, their arms wrapped around each other.

Something caught in his throat as he watched them, transfixed. His eyes brimmed with tears that had nothing to do with the chill wind.

The moment passed and he realized that a woman was staring at him from the other side of the window. Her eyes were wide with terror, her knuckles, white, as she gripped the curtain. Slowly, she tugged it closed. 

The vision was gone.

The wind howled in the Outsider’s ears, the ice it carried, sharp as knives.

***

Quisby the Laggard, was a very foolish soul,  
With his Restless Hands and his Roving Feet, and his life without a goal.

“That Black-Eyed Bastard is a fairytale!” he said.  
“His tale is faux and adults know that his myth is one long dead.” 

The Outsider did hear this, as he listened from the Void, 

For when the sun set on Blackest Night, with the poor fool man he toyed! 

Oh, Quisby, the Laggard, was as lost as one could be;  
In streets of grey, he had gone astray,  
just as deep as the endless sea. 

Thumpety thump, thump, thumpety thump, thump,  
look at Quisby go. 

Thumpety thump, thump, thumpety thump, thump,  
trapped in a world of woe. 

Quisby the Laggard, despaired of his luck that day,  
so he said, "I’ll run, maybe find the sun! Now, before I waste away." 

Down to the center, he found a strange and shifting man  
He cried “Here and there, I’ve been everywhere!  
Please sir, help me if you can." 

He turned around and Quisby frowned! His eyes were black as coal! 

And he knew his doom had come too soon, when he shivered in his soul 

For Quisby, the Laggard, walks the Void to this sad day,  
And the children say, you can hear him pray, as his ghost goes on its way 

\- Gristollian Voidstice Carol 

The celebration was rather more subdued this year than in previous ones. So many familiar faces gone from the guest list, so many nobles dead or lost, whether from the Plague itself or…

 _No,_ Corvo thought to himself firmly, pushing aside his dark thoughts like a bit of rotten fish that had found its way onto his plate, _tonight is the night for merriment._

Unfortunately, that was the exact thought that Esma Boyle had too.

She was literally swaying when she toddled over to him, a half-empty glass of amber liqueur in her hand, her fine clothes spotted with what looked like a dribble of mishandled wine.

“Lord… _hic_ …Protector!” she slurred, reaching out to him, “Ohhh, sir, you’ve got a crumb on your…”

He gently took her by the wrist before she could touch him.

“Ha.” she laughed humorously, her eyes cold, the light of the fire bringing out every wrinkle on her face, “When was the last time you had any fun?”

“Curnow.” he called under his breath, “Curnow!”

_Where was that man?_

“Yessir?”

Corvo gave a start as the guard captain appeared, beaming, seemingly out of thin air, a sprig of holly stuck in his lapel.

“Could you please escort Lady Boyle to her guest chambers?” he said slowly, lowering his voice so that every guest would not hear all at once, “She’s had a bit…”

Esma was licking her lips with an expression he did not care for at all.

“…too much to drink, I’d say.”

“Of course, Lord Protector. If you’d come along, miss…”

“Ugh, the nerve…” she grunted under her breath as Curnow took her by the hand and led her from the throne room, “In my youth, why, no one would”-

“There will be chocolates and coffee in your room presently, m’am. Compliments of the Empress.”

“Oh? You don’t say…”

***

What child is this, who, laid to rest,  
Beneath the tree is sleeping?  
Whom spirits greet with plaintive bleat,  
While the lost and damned are weeping?  
This, this is the Void’s cruel king,  
Whom heretics guard and blasphemers sing:  
Haste, haste to turn him away,  
False boy, the son of despair.

Why lies He in such grey estate,  
Where life and love lie bleeding?  
Good Ev’rymen, fear, for the Outsider here  
Gross inequity is pleading.  
Knives, blades shall pierce him through,  
Black chants are sung, the world made new  
Hail, hail the Void made flesh,  
False boy, the son of despair. 

So lock your windows, shut your doors,  
Come, villein, emperor, despise him.  
The Void’s cruel king disaster brings,  
Let steadfast hearts disown him.  
Raise, raise a song on high,  
To shake the night and crack the sky  
Light, light to end the dark,  
False boy, the son of despair. 

\- Gristollian Voidstice Carol 

The Outsider saw a light flare in the dark and then go out as swiftly as it had been lit. 

“Hello?” he said quietly, more to himself than any other entity. 

 

Only the cold howl of the wind answered him. He took a few wary steps in the direction that he thought he’d seen it. The snow crunched under his boots. The wind whipped at his clothes. 

The light flared, brilliant and bright. He leapt into action, racing ahead just in time to see - 

A girl, wrapped in rags, huddled beneath the steps of a nobleman’s house, a lit match in her hand as she stared blearily up at him, her windworn face streaked with icy tears. She shivered and dropped the match with a little cry in her throat as the fire burned down to her fingertips. The light died as it hit the snow. 

He could hear her teeth chattering in the darkness, feel the smallness of her quaking body as he reached out to touch her. 

She was as cold as the Void. 

_Please sir,_ he heard his own, tiny voice crying out from beyond the veil of countless millennia. _It’s so cold, please…_

His frozen fingers fumbling with the buttons, he struggled to be free of his jacket. When it was in his hand and the wind bit through the thin layer of his shirt, he knelt down and wrapped it around her bony shoulders. She sighed and her shivering abated, if only a little. 

He hugged himself tight as he struggled onward, the streets warping themselves in bizarre ways around him, the sound of whalesong rumbling beneath the whistle of the wind.

***

'Twas the night before Voidstice, and all through the flat  
Not a creature was stirring, not even a rat;  
The door was locked, the windows sealed with care,  
In hopes that the Outsider would not be there;

The children were nestled all snug in their beds,  
While they dreamed of the Strictures in their heads;  
And mamma in her 'kerchief, and I in my cap,  
Had just settled down for a darkest night's nap, 

When out on the step there arose such a clatter,  
I sprang from the bed to see what was the matter.  
Away to the window I flew like a flash,  
Tore open the shutters and threw up the sash. 

The moonless sky betrayed nothing, the smog, less,  
I looked out bewildered, trying to hazard a guess,  
When, what to my wondering eyes should appear,  
But the figure of my worst and absolute fear 

In a flash, he was in, his progress silent and quick,  
I thought in that moment that I was going to be sick.  
More rapid than hounds, than railcars, he came,  
I gibbered and gasped, knowing all too well, his name; 

"Now, SEEKER! now, LIAR! you’ve THIEVED and TRESPASSED!  
you GLUTTON! whore LOVER! your ERRANT MIND, mine at last!  
To the depths of the sea! to the Void in your heart!  
I take you now! from this life you will part!" 

As a boulder before the ocean wave does crash,  
I stood my ground, my faith unabashed,  
he glared, his black eyes boring into my soul  
he sneered, his face twisted into a terrifying whole. 

And then, in a twinkling, he was deeper within  
peering over the forms of my dear sleeping kin.  
I had drawn my sword and was turning around,  
When back he came with a terrible bound. 

He was dressed all in grey, from his head to his foot,  
he smelled of subtle perfume - of ozone and soot;  
My daughter’s old doll he held in his hand,  
examining it as something strange, beautiful and grand. 

His eyes -- how they burned! his mouth, how thin!  
His cheeks, pale as chalk, the unearthly sheen of his skin!  
The skin crinkled beneath his angry black brow,  
As he looked up at me, his mouth forming the word, “How?” 

“In wicked thought and deed, you were once unmatched.  
To hearth and home, I never thought you’d be attached.  
Your crimes were too many, your sin quite severe.  
So how is it that you have a family, a life, a lover here?” 

I looked at him coldly, the sword tight in my hand,  
As I tried to think up some stylish reprimand.  
But my mind gave me nothing, my thoughts were a blank.  
Fancy words got me nowhere - I would have to be frank. 

I laughed aloud in the face of that Void-touched man  
The things in my head spinning into a plan  
“I am but a simple man.” I declared, thumbing my nose,  
“Moreover, it is this precious simpleness that I have chose.” 

“I seek no fame, no glory, no money.  
I know one as you might find that quite funny.  
But this here is my life now, simple and sweet.  
I have never ‘til now felt so utterly complete.” 

“I have no room for magic, nor sorcery, nor sin.  
I have thrown it all away, a fresh start to begin.  
You are not welcome here. Begone, adieu.  
The window is left open, just for you.” 

With that he sprang from his post, with the wind all a’whistle,  
And away he flew out like the down of a thistle.  
But I heard him exclaim, ere he vanished from sight,  
“I WILL FOREVER BE WATCHING - ON THE NEXT DARKEST-NIGHT!” 

\- “A Visit From the Outsider,” Gristollian Voidstice Poem 

Emily was fast growing weary of all the attention lavished on her throughout the evening - the gifts, the stories, the countless penniless nobles hoping against all hope for a favor from the impoverished Royal Treasury. She’d been dozing off in her throne for a good half hour now.

“Emily.” Corvo said quietly, leaning over from his post behind the throne, “Are you ready to turn in?”

She looked over the waiting, eager crowd for a moment, thinking it over, her face set into an expression that was deadly serious...and then curtly nodded.

Corvo stepped forward, clapping his hands loudly enough to get the attention of everyone still milling about.

“Everyone! The Empress and I would like to thank you all for celebrating with us tonight. Your presence means the world to us in these trying times and I do hope that you’ve enjoyed yourselves. If you have any questions or concerns regarding our guest rooms, please do not hesitate to contact a member of the Dunwall Tower staff. Happy Voidstice and to all a good night!”

“Here, here!” Sokolov slurred drunkenly, raising his half-empty bottle of King Street Brandy in a toast to no one and nothing in particular.

With a weary sigh, Emily slid off her throne and allowed herself to be escorted up into her chambers. Corvo did one last security check while she got herself ready for bed.

She was getting too old to be tucked in, but it was something that she still demanded nightly. Corvo obliged without question, fluffing her pillow and tucking the covers so securely around her that monsters under the bed could not hope to reach beyond them. 

He kissed her on the forehead, shut off the lights and locked the door behind him. 

As he stood out there in the empty hall, relieved of duty for the night, the distant sounds of the party below drifting up to his ears, he felt heavier than he’d ever felt in his life. 

It was the first Voidstice celebrated in the palace without Jessamine. 

It shouldn’t have been a big deal and yet…

Every tiny anniversary, every milestone passed…it hurt. Just a little. Just enough to sting. It felt like a single frayed thread poking out from the edge of his consciousness, threatening to unravel the whole thing with the slightest of tugs. Furthermore, Corvo was known for being an intensely private man. He had few friends and even fewer with whom he would trust his secrets. Trust was never a thing that had come easily to him, even before his betrayal, but most especially after. His grief was not something that he had ever felt comfortable speaking to another human about, not with so many still about, looking to stab him and his in the back at the slightest notice. 

Deities, however…

He smiled as he walked down the stairs, his spirits slowly lifting again, a blush coming to his cheeks at the thought of seeing Him again when he closed his eyes.

***

Blackest night, darkest night!  
Moon is gone, lost is light.  
Round yon sacrifice, One and All.  
Cursed child, the Void to him calls,  
Rest in dreaming endless,  
Rest in dreaming endless

Blackest night, darkest night!  
The world shakes, at the sight.  
Horrors stream from Forever afar  
Wicked tongues sing praise to their god,  
The Outsider is born!  
The Outsider is born 

Blackest night, darkest night!  
Orphan of blinded sight.  
Falsehood flows from Thy lying tongue  
Such deceit from one so young,  
Void-twisted son, at Thy birth  
Void-twisted son, at Thy birth 

\- Gristollian Voidstice Carol 

The Outsider stumbled into the wreck of a house, panting and shivering with effort, falling to his knees before the blazing fire. His hands shaking and teeth chattering, he raised them up to the warmth, almost sobbing with relief at the prickling sensation of feeling in his frozen fingers again. 

“Such a dreary night, dearie.” a voice from the other side of the fire intoned, “Shouldn’t you be at home?”

“H-Home?” he echoed through chattering teeth, catching the glint of tarnished jewelry, the wink of a sightless eye through the dancing flames. 

“Granny will tell you a tale, to pass the time, hmm? Perhaps you’d like to hear of the boy who became a god and lost his name? Ah, but you know that one too well. Oh! I know…you’d like a tale of ice and cold. Of triumph over the elements on the darkest night of the year. It’s all very dramatic.”

“An old god walked the streets alone, for this one night he was between worlds, neither quite in the Void nor quite free of it. He was lost and confused, seeking something - or is it someone? - but not sure how to reach it. Oh, he spent the whole night trying and failing, giving away the pieces of himself that kept him warm, but never getting any closer to his goal. Had he known how simple the answer was, he might have made it before the sun rose and all us Void Spirits returned to the place from whence we came.”

“You see,” Granny Rags said softly, the fire dimming as she rose to her feet, “All he had to do was _go home_.”

He lurched away from the fire as she laughed, her body disintegrating into a hundred tiny, furry pieces that squealed and squeaked as they ran away. When he had uncovered his eyes and pulled himself up from the snow-strewn floor, only embers burnt before him.

 _Home._

That was not a thing he had ever had before. He wasn’t entirely sure if he understood the concept. It was a place, wasn’t it? One you returned to, time and again the same, safe and warm. He had never known any such place, never been anywhere where the ground didn’t shift under his feet, where up and down held any sort of meaning, literally or figuratively.

Unless…

Corvo, night after night seeking him out in dreams, his smiling face going over the mundane details of his day, his small grievances, his miniscule joys. His listening ear when he was in turn told about the echoes of the world that he’d seen in the Void that day, the petitions he could do nothing about.

When had these dalliances become so important, so central? How…how could a person be a home? It didn’t make any sense, and yet...

The embers died and the ruin was cast into a chilling gloom. The Outsider rose to his feet, gritting his teeth as he bent the Void to his will, shivering uncontrollably as set out into the blizzard once again.

***

I'll be home for Voidstice  
Please, please wait for me  
We’ll watch snow and drink cocoa  
You, I long to see 

Darkest Night will find me  
Where my heart remains  
I'll be home for Voidstice  
Through ev’ry icy rain 

I'll be home for Voidstice  
Please remember me  
I’ll be warm, in human form  
Tonight I am free 

Darkest Night will find me  
Where my heart remains  
I'll be home for Voidstice  
Through ev’ry icy rain 

\- a distant song, whispered from the Void 

Corvo sleepily made his final patrol of the night, halfheartedly checking that the windows were all shut, the locks were in working order. It was a good night for an assassination, with the streets so empty and most of law enforcement holed up indoors on account of both the blizzard and their age-old superstitions. 

A few party guests lingered in the throne room, sipping hot toddies and exchanging uproarious drunken stories. Sokolov had fallen asleep in the chair he’d staked out all night and was snoring like a motorboat. Corvo smiled, not at all envious of Curnow’s task of escorting the cagey old man to his sleeping quarters. 

His footsteps echoed in the empty halls as he strolled down the stairs to the front entrance. The windows were frosted with ice and the wind howled through the nooks and crannies of the architectural flourishes outside. He felt strangely at peace here, under the eyes of no one and nothing, quiet enough at last to hear the sound of his own breathing. 

It was his favorite time of day - when he was at last able to be out from under the eyes of the court and there was no one to tell him what to do but himself. On a warmer night, he might have slipped out and gone roof-top hopping for a bit before bed. 

But, ah well. The best he could do tonight was enjoy the silence while it lasted. 

Something slammed violently against the front door, rattling it in its hinges. 

His hand was on his blade immediately, his every fatherly and Lord Protectorly instinct on high alert. It wasn’t possible. The courtyard was locked down. He’d seen to it himself, lowered the portcullis the instant the last guest was indoors. It wasn’t- It can’t be-

A very definite, precise knock sounded from the other side of the ancient wood.

A servant locked outdoors? A guardsman who’d partied too hard? Whoever it was, they would almost certainly freeze to death if they spent the night locked in the courtyard.

And if it was something more sinister? _Well,_ he thought, flexing his Marked hand, _I can handle that well enough on my own._

Quieting his racing heartbeat, he undid the deadbolt and turned the key. 

A body hurled itself through the open door, tangling him in icy arms as it sailed through on a gust of freezing air. 

“ _C-Corvo!_ ” It gasped through chattering teeth, “C-Corvo!”

Corvo hugged him back tightly, the subtle pain in his chest flaring into utter confusion, horror…joy. _How?_ the question echoed in his mind again and again. _How, how, how…_

Somehow, the answer didn’t matter quite as much as the feel of his body, the touch of his skin, the shock of him standing here, right now, in his arms, in the real world.

A moment passed and he realized how cold the little body he was holding was and how much it shook despite the warmth of his hug. 

“Oh!” Corvo gasped, pulling away and closing the door behind them.

The Outsider looked back at him sleepily, ice caught on the fibers of his eyelashes, his clothes rimed with frost, his pale skin reddened by the sting of the brutal wind. 

“Where…” Corvo asked softly, getting lost in the black depths of the Outsider’s eyes, “Where is your jacket?”

He smiled slowly and mischievously, an expression that Corvo couldn’t say that he’d ever seen from the Void God before. He could not hazard a guess as to whether the redness of his cheeks was the result of the cold or something else. 

“Here!” he chuckled, shrugging off his own gold-trimmed coat and draping it over his skinny shoulders. “We’ll get you some dry clothes! And I’ll have the servants light a fire. Ah…would you like anything to eat? Do…do you eat?”

“I’m…not…sure…” the Outsider intoned, a wrinkle forming between his eyebrows as he frowned, “I don’t remember.”

“Well!” Corvo said with a smile as he clapped him on the back, “One thing at a time, eh? To my chambers, then!”

He flicked the hood of the Outsider’s borrowed coat up the moment he saw Captain Curnow rounding the corner, his arms in the air as he yawned. 

“Come along, Lady Boyle.” he said under his breath, just loud enough for Curnow to hear. He struggled to keep a straight face as he pulled the bulky coat tighter around the Outsider’s skinny frame. “You mustn’t go outside on a night like this even if Lydia can’t stand your smoking…”

Curnow sniggered softly as he passed them by, shaking his head. The Outsider smiled warmly under his disguise. 

They made it to the Royal Protector’s quarters without any more of a fuss and Corvo quickly picked an outfit out of his closet for the Void God to wear. It was all too big, of course - it’d hang like a sack off of that poor bag of bones. But it was dry and clean and those were the things that mattered most now. 

“Here.” he said, gesturing to the shady alcove that he’d been using as a dumping ground for all of the Lord Regent’s old things that he was still sorting through, “Change in there while I call someone to get the fire going.”

Not wanting to ring the bell at this hour of the night, he poked his head out into the hallway and scanned for signs of life. 

“Oh! Ms. Benton!” he called out, catching her just before she rounded the corner, “I don’t mean to bother you, but could you please light the fire in my room and send up some hot chocolate and whatever leftover sweets we have from the party?”

She gave him an odd look and then her face cracked into a smile.

“What’s this?” she laughed, “Our Lord Protector growing a sweet tooth in his old age?”

He smiled bashfully and slapped his stomach.

“Can’t have the royal courtiers thinking I can be bribed with sweets, can I now? I’d never see the end of it.”

“Of course, Lord Corvo.” she said, curtsying and smiling at him demurely. “I’ll have that fire lit straight away.”

Soon enough, the fire was roaring, chasing the chill from all corners of the room. A little while later there came a tap on the door and the beleaguered chef, his eyes baggy and red, silently passed him a silver tray with the things he’d requested on it. Corvo thanked the man and gave him a direct order to go straight to bed. 

“They’re gone.” he called out softly, nudging some things aside on an end table so that the tray would fit. “Are you decent?”

Slowly, the Outsider stepped out into the light. He wore Corvo’s coat like a cape, draped over his shoulders, the gold edging nearly scraping the floor, the sleeves flopping at his sides. Beneath, he wore a crisp white dress shirt, the sleeves snappily rolled up to his elbows in such a fashion that one wouldn’t have even noticed that they were too long unless the fact were roundly pointed out.

Corvo sucked in his breath, his heart pounding at the sight. He must have had an amusing expression on his face, because the Outsider chuckled, spun on his heel (causing the jacket to flare out like a magnificent set of wings around him) and plopped down onto the plush divan before the fire.

“Well…” Corvo said, having to cough several times to clear his throat, “Have some hot chocolate?”

He poured the dark fluid into the tiny silver cup he’d been provided and passed it into the care of the Outsider’s slender fingers. The Outsider sniffed it suspiciously and took a tentative taste.

“Mmph!” he grunted, scrunching his face up and putting two fingers on his lips.

“Oh!” Corvo gasped, “Is it too hot? Ah, I should’ve asked for some milk, I’m sorry…”

“No.” The Outsider said quietly, “It’s…delicious. I…didn’t know things were this delicious.”

Corvo smiled, falling down on the divan beside him.

“Well, I guess the fig and honey cake would be a bit much for you, wouldn’t it?”

“Perhaps. But…I’d like to taste it.”

He set the cup down on the floor and snuggled against Corvo. He was still so cold. And bony and small. Corvo wrapped his arm around him, drawing him closer, running a hand through his tousled hair. 

It was all so strange. But he wished it would never end.

They sat there for some time, neither speaking, both half-dozing, lulled to sleep by the crackle of the flames and the ticking of the clock.

“I gave it away, you know.” the Outsider whispered, breaking the silence.

“Hm?”

“My jacket. I found…a child out there, freezing to death. I gave it to her, though I nearly froze myself.”

His grip tightened on Corvo, his fingers shaking with the memory.

“It was the one time I have ever _done_ anything in my life. With my own hands, choosing a single outcome out of the shifting mass of probabilities. It was…such a small thing, but I changed it. I changed something. I saved _someone_.”

“Oh, Outsider.” Corvo sighed, smiling as he booped him on the nose, “You’ve changed more than one thing.”

“Two things.” the Outsider laughed softly, running his cool fingers over the contours of Corvo’s Mark. 

All of a sudden, he squeezed his hand and leaned closer. His heart fluttering in his chest, Corvo met him halfway, suddenly aware of the harsh stubble on his face, the taste of hours-old coffee on his tongue, a million tiny details that could go wrong, that could ruin everything, if only-

The Outsider kissed him softly, passionately, minding not a single bit of it.

***

Have yourself a merry little Voidstice,  
Let your heart be warm  
For tonight,  
you’ve weathered the unending storm

Have yourself a merry little Voidstice,  
Here with me you’ll stay  
For tonight,  
no Void will stand in our way.

Here we are, touching, kissing lips  
Happy miracles of yore.  
Cursed loves who are dear to us  
Gather near to us once more.

Through the years  
I’ll see you in my dreaming,  
Rest beside me now  
Stay as long as sunlight will allow.  
And have yourself a merry little Voidstice now.

\- a song that Corvo hums under his breath when he thinks no one is listening

He lay side by side on the bed with Corvo, the air mildly chilly on his naked flesh despite the heat of the fire, looking him intently in the eye.

“You’re sure you want to do this?” Corvo said gently, running his fingers along the smooth line of his jaw, his skin warming the instant it was touched.

“Yes.” The Outsider answered, taking his hand and kissing the palm, “It’s...going to be a long time. Before I get the chance again.”

“Alright.”

Slowly, he rose up from the blankets, his scarred hide lit by the firelight, his hair, messy as it flowed, loose around his shoulders. He smelled of cloves and the incense that Overseers burnt to keep him away. Contrary to popular belief, it was not a scent that the Outsider disliked. 

Corvo had grabbed a pillow from the head of the bed and scooched it under the Outsider’s legs. 

“Could you lift yourself up for just a…ah, here we go.”

He slid the pillow under his butt, propping his lower body up in the air a little ways. 

“Comfortable?”

The Outsider nodded, his mouth a tense line.

“If I’m going too fast, just say the word, alright?”

“Of course.”

“Hooo…” he breathed out, rubbing his hands against one another and then leaning over to pluck a bottle of lube from the false bottom of his endtable drawer. The Outsider watched him spread it over his hands and then, slowly, reverently, touch a finger to the space between his legs.

The first thing he felt was cold. Involuntarily, the Outsider jerked away.

“I’m sorry.” Corvo murmured, a smile on his face, but sadness in his eyes, “This is my first time doing this too. It’s…uh…been a while. Try again?”

The Outsider relaxed, closed his eyes and let him touch him. At first it was more odd than pleasurable, the feeling of a finger in a place where there had never been one before. But as he worked him over and the lube warmed up, he relaxed, sighing with pleasure, his toes curling with every new sensation. Before he noticed it, one finger became two, then three. 

“Ready?” Corvo asked, running his free hand over the length of his engorged member.

The Outsider nodded, smiling.

He gasped at the feeling of his cock sliding in, gripping the blankets and clenching his jaw. 

“You okay?” Corvo asked, an undertone of worry in his voice.

The Outsider breathed out, fumbling through all the words he knew for an answer. He reached up and touched Corvo’s face, grounding himself in the rough feel of his cheeks, the warmth of his flesh.

“Yes.” he breathed, relaxing as Corvo took his hand in his own and slowly began gyrating his hips. 

It was a type of pleasure he’d never felt before - deep and slow and undulating, filling the holes in himself that he did not know he had. It was far from painful, but it was a foreign sort of pleasure, a thing he wasn’t entirely sure how to handle. He reached down with his free hand and began stroking his penis, breaking up the strange sensations with one that was more familiar. 

Corvo groaned, his body tensing as he picked up the pace just a little bit. The Outsider wrapped his legs around him, holding him tight as he carried him to places he’d never been before, in all the echoes he’d seen in the Void. He took in a sharp intake of breath when it touched on something deep inside of him, sending waves of energy through the depths of his pelvis, a rush of warmth through the core of his being. 

“ _Cor…vo…_ ” he choked out, as it all came to a head. 

Corvo let out a shuddering sigh as he lowered his upper body to rest on the Outsider’s chest, nestling his sweaty head in between his neck and the hollow of his shoulder, his eyelashes tickling as they brushed against his soft skin. 

The Outsider sighed, holding him close, silently willing this night to last forever.

***

I wish I could stay (but darling, the Void’s outside)

I'm going away (but darling, the Void’s outside) This evening has been (I’m so happy you dropped in)

the best of my being (I couldn’t believe it, what I was seeing) the whales are calling (For you, I’m falling)

Again, I’ll be alone (wish I would have known) My edges feel blurry (morning, please don't hurry)

Oh please, just a moment more (will it help if I implore?) Say hello to your empress (we’ll both take care)

I’ll miss you more than I confess (come back to me, swear) I wish I knew how (your eyes are obsidian now)

to break this spell (I'll hold you close, I wish you well)

I wish I could stay (I feel you fading away)

At least it was grand (tonight as I held your hand) I really can't stay (I know, it’s okay)

But darling, the Void’s outside

I have to go (but darling, the Void’s outside)

You’ll find me out in the snow (but darling, the Void’s outside) Your welcome has been (how lovely that you dropped in)

the best of the night (I wish that sunlight wasn’t so bright) Soon I’ll be gone (I never thought I’d hate the dawn)

I hear whispers at the door (waves upon a blackened shore) The Void is so cold (with my arms, you I’ll hold)

If only there was just a day more (I wish I’d met you before) I'm being dragged home (remember me when you roam)

You lent me your coat (it looked better on you) You've really been great (I don’t get the Abbey hate)

But don't you see? (stay here with me) There'll always be tomorrow (it doesn’t help with my sorrow)

I’ll be there next year (I’ll listen for you and hear) I wish I could stay (too bad it doesn’t work that way)

Darling, the Void

Darling, the Void’s outside

\- Song which echoes back and forth across the Void, come the Month of Darkness

_Corvo…_

He heard his name being whispered from somewhere far away. The Void? Was he dreaming? If that was the case, he need only reach out and…

_Corvo!_

Where was he?

_Corvo, please…_

His voice had cracked. It sounded as though something was tearing out his heart. 

“Corvo…”

Corvo blearily opened his eyes, grumbling at the thought of being up at all - and was immediately catapulted into wakefulness by what he saw.

The Outsider was phasing in and out of existence as he lay beside him, his body at once turning into a blurry photograph and then snapping into realism too detailed to be real. Morning light streamed through the blinds and he could hear the footstep of the palace staff moving about outside.

“I don’t want to go back!” he sputtered out, thick, tar-like tears rolling from his jet-black eyes, “I don’t want to see forever, know everything! I don’t want…want…”

“Shhh.” Corvo whispered, pulling him into a tight embrace, burying his cold, sobbing face into the warmth of his chest.

“I’ll…be here…alright?” he said softly, struggling to keep his own voice even, “I’ll be waiting for you every Voidstice, no matter what happens. Just…hold onto that thought. Remember that I lo”-

He was holding nothing but empty air, the only signs that there was ever a guest in the room, the wrinkles in the blanket, a half-eaten fig and honey cake and a cold cup of cocoa.

***

O Come All Ye Everymen  
Steadfast and mundane,  
O come ye, O come ye to the edge of the Void.  
Come and behold Him,  
Born the Child of Darkness;  
O come, let us abhor Him,  
O come, let us abhor Him,  
O come, let us abhor Him,  
The Black-Eyed God.

O Sing, choirs of Ev’rymen,  
Sing in acrimony,  
Sing so that the spirit’s cries are drowned out in joy  
Give to our Void God hatred in the Highest;  
O come, let us abhor Him,  
O come, let us abhor Him,  
O come, let us abhor Him,  
The Black-Eyed God.

All Hail! Wretch, we greet Thee,  
Born this cold, dark night,  
O Void God! for evermore be Thy name abhored.  
Avatar of discord, now in flesh appearing;  
O come, let us abhor Him,  
O come, let us abhor Him,  
O come, let us abhor Him,  
The Black-Eyed God.

\- Gristollian Voidstice Carol

Month of Darkness, 1839

Corvo paced nervously all night, his eyes always on the windows, the doors, the curtains. At every gust of wind that rattled the windowpanes, he shuddered, thinking of the conditions that his lover must be facing outdoors.

But what was he supposed to do?

_Ah yes, Captain, just for a lark - would you ever so kindly send out a patrol to scour the streets for a man matching the exact description of the deity whom we’ve spent the entire night reviling in song?_

No.

It couldn’t be, no matter how much his stomach churned upon thinking of him, trapped out there, under the eaves of every locked window and barred door…

At some point during the night, in an effort to relieve just a bit of his obvious melancholy, Emily stuck a sprig of holly behind his ear and then skittered away, laughing wildly. He cracked a smile for the first time that night at the remembrance that despite her high station and heavy duties, his daughter was still a child. 

He tried to be cheerful for her.

At the end of the night, his head still buzzing with anxiety, his nightly security check done twice over now, he returned to the royal quarters to catch up on a bit of paperwork that he’d left undone before the big night. Emily was snoozing peacefully in the safe room tonight. The quarters were empty and silent, the office, free to do whatever he wished without fear of waking her up. 

He’d finally managed to concentrate on what he was doing when there came a sharp rap on the office window. 

His heart leaped in relief and overwhelming joy - which was immediately replaced by an electric jolt of sheer terror. His heart pounding, he lurched away from the desk, threw open the window and dragged the Outsider in by the collar.

“What were you thinking?” he sputtered, squeezing him tight and casting one eye out the window and down the dizzying drop to the sea below, “One stiff gust of wind and you’d have…”

“Ah, but I didn’t, now did I, dear Corvo?”

“Oh, you…arghhhh...”

He looked up at him, the corners of his black eyes crinkling in merriment. His face suddenly went serious as he reached up to pluck the holly from behind Corvo’s ear.

“Oh, what’s this now?” he asked, a chuckle in his voice as he drew a white-berried sprig free from his hair.

It wasn’t holly after all.

“It goes like this, does it?” he asked quizzically, extending his arm above their heads so that the plant brushed the top of Corvo’s head. 

“Yes…that does seem right, doesn’t it?” Corvo purred, leaning in to the kiss with a smile.

***

Hark how the winds,  
whistling winds,  
all seem to hiss,  
one step amiss,  
Darkness is here,  
the Void looms near,  
beware young and old,  
meek and the bold.  
deep rumblings long  
that is their song  
with mournful ring  
praise to their king.  
But seek and you’ll hear  
words of good cheer  
from everywhere  
filling the air.  
Oh how they pound,  
raising the sound,  
o'er street and home,  
the lost who roam.  
Gaily they ring  
ev’rymen sing  
songs of good cheer,  
Voidstice is here.  
Merry, Merry, Merry, Merry Voidstice,  
Merry, Merry, Merry, Merry Voidstice.  
On on they send,  
on without end,  
‘til night is done  
again rise the sun.

\- Gristollian Voidstice Carol

Month of Darkness, 1843

“She got the drop on me yesterday. For the first time! She was so quiet, so perfect. I’m…proud. So proud. Though I’d rather not give her too many compliments while we’re in the middle of training, y’know? She might pick up some bad habits…”

“Um hm…”

The Outsider stared intently at the fresh portrait of the Child Empress hanging over the throne. She seemed, harder, colder than the little girl in the old portrait that had just been replaced. Far too stern for a girl of sixteen. 

He wondered if she was watching them right now. An Empress practiced in sneaking was not someone who could be confined to her room. 

He turned around to see Corvo fiddling with the audiograph player that had been set up on the edge of the throne room for the party earlier that night. There was a stack of audiographs in his hand and his frown deepened as he flipped through them.

“What are you looking for?”

The Outsider stepped towards him, pulling Corvo’s coat tighter around him. It still smelled of incense and cloves and if you really concentrated, the musk of Corvo’s flesh.

“Ah, it’s just…”

He slammed the stack down on the side table, frustrated.

“I’d like to play some music, but all of these songs…they’re so…insulting. And…wrong.”

The Outsider smiled weakly.

“It’s nothing I haven’t heard before. And the tunes are fine enough.”

“Ugh!” Corvo cried, snapping around towards him with a look of supreme sorrow, “But you shouldn’t have to hear any of it! Ever! And not tonight, of all nights. I…I just want something to dance to. It shouldn’t be this hard.”

“You could sing one. You used to sing. There was such music in Serkonos, before you found yourself here.”

A distant smile flitted across Corvo’s face. He crossed his arms, considering for a moment.

“It’s…been a long time. I hope I don’t offend your senses too badly with this…”

“ _Numa casa serkonosa fica bem…_ ” he sang softly, his voice on the deeper end of a tenor as he tapped his foot to his the rhythm in his head, “ _Pão e vinho sobre a mesa…_ ”

“ _E se à porta humildemente bate alguém,_ ” he sang louder as he gained confidence and shimmied across the floor, gyrating his hips, “ _Senta-se à mesa com a gente!_ ”

“Ahha!” the Outsider half-laughed, half-screamed as he swept him off his feet, whirling him around the room.

“ _Fica bem essa fraqueza, fica beeeeem! Que o povo nunca a desmente…_ ”

The Outsider’s feet were all over the place, but it hardly mattered if Corvo was so quick that he couldn’t be stepped on.

“ _A alegria da pobreza, está nesta grande riqueza, de dar, e ficar contente…_ ” he whispered the last lines, leaning in close, his nose touching the Outsider’s, his eyes alight with laughter.

***

We three Eyeless of Karnaca are  
Seeking Him, we traverse afar  
Club and fountain, mine and mountain  
Following portent bizarre

O Eye of wonder, dead god’s light  
Show us with your waning sight  
Voidward leading, still proceeding  
Him with eyes as black as night

Born a debtor in Karnaca’s grave  
Him I seek, myself to save  
Searching ever, ceasing never  
A taste of Death, I crave

O Eye of wonder, dead god’s light  
Show us with your waning sight  
Voidward leading, still proceeding  
Him with eyes as black as night

My waning voice to offer have I  
Plead I to a Deity nigh  
I beg you, inspire, creative fire  
My supplications, I cry

O Eye of wonder, dead god’s light  
Show us with your waning sight  
Voidward leading, still proceeding  
Him with eyes as black as night

Eternity mine, its welc’ming embrace  
Live I will, with unending grace  
Breathing, vying, never dying  
Immortality, I chase

O Eye of wonder, dead god’s light  
Show us with your waning sight  
Voidward leading, still proceeding  
Him with eyes as black as night

The black-eyed god! Behold Him, arise!  
Boy and god and sacrifice  
Praying ever, ceasing never  
Your wisdom, we entice

O Eye of wonder, dead god’s light  
Show us with your waning sight  
Voidward leading, still proceeding  
Him with eyes as black as night

\- Eyeless Chant

Month of Darkness, 1851

On the night before Voidstice, Corvo took ill.

He lay in bed with a raging fever for most of the day, hoping against all hope that it would break before the big night. Naturally, no such thing occurred, despite the best efforts of the Royal Physician and Dunwall’s not inconsiderable supply of bitter medicine. There was precious little he could do but rest and hope. 

He drifted in and out of fevered dreams for hours, catching snatches of conversation, music drifting up from down the hall, not quite sleeping but not quite awake, in too much pain to let himself drift into dreamland completely. 

Once, he opened his eyes and the Outsider was there, smiling down at him, the corners of his black eyes crinkling as he put a cool cloth to his burning forehead.

Corvo sighed, his silent joy so great that it hurt his chest, tears springing to his eyes at the sight, at the touch of him.

He closed his eyes at last and drifted into the Void in his dreams.

***

“There’s something I need to tell you.” the Outsider said softly, his voice louder than he’d hoped in the silence of Corvo’s bedchamber, “It’s…hard for me to say this, but...”

He huffed loudly, leaning back in his chair beside the bed, rubbing his temples, as though that would yield any more insight.

“There’s something happening in the Void. A disturbance. I…do not know if I will come out on the other side. I can sense the possibilities but what happens will not be up to me. I…am at peace with...at peace with whatever may come. I...don’t like to tell anyone this and I feel ill at the thought of worrying you, but…I’m tired. I’m so very tired. A part of me wills it, to be nothing, to let go at last. And then I think of you and…well. You’re the only thing worth staying for. I am afraid only of losing you and whether that hurts more than the alternative, I cannot say.”

“But…”

He reached out and touched Corvo’s clammy hand, the skin where the Mark was written, blazing hot.

“I suppose the only thing I can say is ‘goodbye.’ And thank you. And…”

He slid off the chair, brushed back his lover’s sweat-matted hair and kissed him on the forehead, his lips cool against the hotness of the sick man’s flesh.

Sunlight was streaming through the blinds and like a dandelion puff blown on the wind, he slipped away.

***

O come, O come, redeemed killer dear  
And ransom captive caged child drear  
That mourns in lonely exile strange  
Until his rescue she arrange  
Rejoice! Rejoice! Redeemed killer dear!  
Shall come to thee, O him who lives in fear.

O come, avenging fire and free  
The helpless from all worldly tyranny  
From depths of Nothing this pris’ner save  
And take him from this vast and howling grave  
Rejoice! Rejoice! Redeemed killer dear!  
Shall come to thee, O him who lives in fear.

O come, thou trickster, come and cheer  
His lonely soul by thine lone journey here  
Disperse the gloomy ghosts of the past  
And Void's dark shadows slip by fast.  
Rejoice! Rejoice! Redeemed killer dear!  
Shall come to thee, O him who lives in fear.

O come, thou hapless lover, come,  
your vengeance sweet, your bloody heart a -thrum  
Give back that which was stolen long ago  
And end this farce of millennium-long woe  
Rejoice! Rejoice! Redeemed killer dear!  
Shall come to thee, O him who lives in fear.

O come, O come, thou lady of the blade,  
the die are cast, the decisions all weighed,  
In ancient times did'st slay a queen,  
such long regret you have seen  
Rejoice! Rejoice! Redeemed killer dear!  
Shall come to thee, O him who lives in fear.

\- Assassin’s Chant

Month of Darkness, 1852

Waking up every morning without the Mark was like suddenly remembering that he’d lost a limb and having to readjust on the fly. For months afterward, he’d felt off-balance, dizzy at odd times of day, physically weaker than he’d been in years. All the physicians consulted agreed that it was most likely the lingering effects of Delilah’s black magic. The few remaining members of the Abbey of the Everyman sent him incense to burn, prayers to meditate on.

He kept up the appearance of piety of course, when there were eyes on him, functions to attend. He continued wrapping his hand out of habit, though there was now no Mark to conceal. It felt wrong to wake up in the morning and go without, as though he were strolling into Court naked. It was the smallest of things he could do to maintain some sort of sense of normality in the midst of all the upheaval and frantic rebuilding. 

But beneath the physical concerns and the worry that his age was at last taking a toll on his ability to be an adequate Protector, there was something deeper that concerned him even further still.

He had not dreamt of the Void in months.

When he closed his eyes, he did not hear music. When he drifted off to sleep, his dreams were colorless and bland. When he reached out for the voice he so longed to hear…

Nothing.

In his spare time, such as it was, he had taken to writing letters to a person with no known address. It was mostly mundane things, the little details he’d spent so many years confiding to the one person he could possibly trust, the small grievances and insecurities that he could tell to no other. He imagined that he could read them, wherever he was, whatever he was doing.

It eased his heart the smallest bit to think that though his connection to the Void was severed, that perhaps the Outsider was still watching him from afar.

***

Corvo was beyond thorough in his security measures for this Voidstice celebration. It was to be the first big event in the remodeled palace since Delilah’s coup. While Emily’s approval ratings had skyrocketed since her return to power, there were always rebel factions lurking out there in the darkness, ready to throw their hard-won order into chaos once again.

The guard was doubled, with patrols maintained throughout the night, at all ends of the Tower. Music boxes were requested from the Abbey, in case of remaining witches choosing to mount an attack this night. Security checkpoints were set up throughout the palace - in the courtyard, at the entrance, at the throne room doors. No one would get in or out without his say-so.

And yet…all of it mattered so little to him. 

He went through the motions as he did his duty, leaving the bulk of the work in the hands of his most trusted officers, his mind far away from the palace, the affairs of the day. There was a pit of dread in his stomach that he could not shake. 

The throne room was decorated modestly, the pillars wound with holly and brightly colored ribbons. In past years they had had jeweled ornaments, grand feasts, the finest musicians shipped in from across the Isles. This year, Emily had agreed that the funds of the Dunwall Treasury, decimated by the greedy hands of the usurpers, were far better spent on public health and services in the wake of the tragedy that was the anniversary of Empress Jessamine’s death. 

Corvo had never been prouder of her. 

He stood at his post behind her throne all night, watching as she received her guests - the nobles, the dignitaries, the families of those who had been killed defending the Crown months ago. There was dancing and eating and singing. There was merriment the likes of which had not been seen in Dunwall for months. Emily did not retire to bed until well after midnight. 

Corvo stood in the Empress’s office, staring out the window with its long drop to the sea below.

“I haven’t seen him, you know.”

Corvo snapped around to face her. Emily stood in the doorway, her hair loose around her shoulders, her silk robe neatly tied around her lacy nightgown. Her left hand, uncovered only in the privacy of her chambers. She touched the Mark, running her fingers lightly over the deep black lines as she nibbled on her bottom lip.

“He doesn’t…speak to me so often. But it was more than this. I’m sorry.”

“Thank you, Emily.”

She shut the door behind her.

He pulled the chair from behind the desk and sat beneath the window until the small hours of the morning, until a dreamless and silent sleep claimed him.

***

Invitations have all been sent  
The planning stage is through  
I have but only one wish to make  
A special one for you  
Merry Voidstice, darling  
We've been apart, that's true  
But I can dream  
And in my dreams  
I sing and dance with you  
I wish I could be joyful  
It’s been a long year through  
But every day is Voidstice  
When I think of you  
for one night carefree  
I wish we could be  
I wish it every day  
The warmth of the fire  
Fill me with desire  
To see you and to say  
That I wish you Merry Voidstice  
Happy Fugue Feast too  
I've just one wish  
On this Voidstice Eve  
I wish I were with you  
I wish I were with you  
Merry Voidstice, darling

\- Message from Corvo to the Outsider, found crumbled at the back of a desk drawer

Month of Darkness, 1853

“He looks a Finch boy, doesn’t he? Second cousin or somesuch. There’s one about to come into a lot of money or so I’m told…”

“No, no! He’s definitely the love-child of Madame Nasiou and her butler. I’ve heard he’s been kinder to her in old age than any of her legitimate heirs…”

“What? Nonsense, all of it! He’s a Winslow, I’m sure of it, on good authority too! Why, when the lock company fell on hard times…”

“Lock company? My friends, he’s only just arrived from Karnaca. Look at his _manners_. Serk all the way through. You know, dearest Dr. Marcolla took in an orphan child some years ago and has been training him as apprentice ever since. I wonder...”

“Do you hear yourselves? He’s Countess Contee’s son! Spitting image of her. I heard that his father disowned him years ago, but now that he’s dead…”

“Excuse me, ladies.”

“Ohh!”

The gaggle of noblewomen broke up abruptly, flushed and fanning themselves at the sight of the Lord Protector himself, gracing their circle so abruptly with his presence. He was known for rarely speaking in court, for being a brooding presence at the back of the Empress, his hand always on his sword.

“M-My Lord!” one of them sputtered out, doing a clumsy curtsy and nearly spilling her drink as she did so, “Ah…Happy Voidstice, sir! How goes your evening?”

“Oh, quite well, thank you, except for perhaps…”

He narrowed his eyes, looking at them all carefully.

“…I do not wish to panic you, but I have heard tell of an uninvited guest who has infiltrated the palace. I couldn’t help but overhear your conversation and I believe that you are familiar with the man I am speaking of.”

“Oh!” another one piped up, the stuffed bird on her hat bobbing as she gave a small, excited jump, “That green-eyed man? Yes, he was at the buffet a moment ago. Awfully hungry too, I might add. And his clothes were from last season! It was most unbecoming, why”-

“He was heading for the door, plate in hand.”

The woman who had spoken frowned, the effect enhanced by her dramatic eyeshadow. 

“He did not…have the bearing of one such as ourselves. I would be careful, Lord Protector.”

“Thank you, madam. I assure you, it will be taken care of.”

 _One freeloading dandy,_ he thought as he briskly trotted towards the doors. There was always one at every function. With luck, he’d be caught and thrown into a cell in Coldridge for the night. That tended to dissuade them well enough. 

There were a few guests milling about in the lobby, quietly chatting with one another over the modest tables that had been set up. No green-eyed man here. And no exit but the elevator. 

He played with his hand wrap irritably as he rode down. A moment passed, the bell dinged softly and the doors slid open. He yawned, cracked his back and headed out.

He had barely turned the corner when his eyes caught a thin sliver of light seeping out from under the door of his private chamber. The door hung open a crack and he could hear the crackle of flames inside. Sucking in his breath, he pulled his folding blade out of his pocket and flicked it open. It was best to get this over with quickly. 

“Excuse me.” he said menacingly at the shadowed figure perched lackadaisically on the divan, “You’re not supposed to be here.”

There was a heaping plate of sweets on the cushion next to him. The man popped a truffle in his mouth, the crispy shell crunching between his teeth.

“Oh?” he said, turning to face him, the firelight playing on his features, “And where would you prefer me to be?”

Corvo’s heart caught in his throat. The arm he was holding his blade in went limp. He scanned every inch of his features, twice, three times, unbelieving, shocked, filled with the joy he couldn’t possibly have - 

He threw the blade aside and then threw himself onto the divan with a cry, kissing him over and over, his lips tasting like chocolate, his tears, warm and salty.

“I’m sorry!” the Outsider gasped between kisses, “It took me so long! I wanted - to see the world! I went to Tyvia! To Morley! I worked - on a whaling ship! I had to see it…with my own eyes.”

Corvo sucked in his breath, backing up for a moment, cradling his face between the palms of his hands. His eyes glinted in the firelight, a deep, stormy green. He was crying, his face nearly breaking with the force of his beaming smile.

“But I’m home now.” he said softly, “Permanently. If you’ll have me.”

“ _Of course._ ” he breathed, holding him close as the sounds of Voidstice carols drifted down from upstairs.

**Author's Note:**

> The song Corvo sings is a riff on “Uma Casa Portuguesa.” The translated lyrics are: 
> 
>  
> 
> _In a Serkonan house, it is well_  
>  _Bread and wine on the table_  
>  _And if someone humbly knocks on the door,_  
>  _Sit at the table with us._  
>  _This weakness is good, it's okay,_  
>  _That the people never deny it_  
>  _The joy of poverty_  
>  _It is in this great wealth_  
>  _To give, and to be content_
> 
>  
> 
> All of the Christmas songs/poems referenced, in order of appearance are:
> 
> Deck the Halls
> 
> Walking in a Winter Wonderland
> 
> Santa Claus is Coming to Town
> 
> Frosty the Snowman
> 
> What Child is This
> 
> A Visit From St. Nicholas
> 
> Silent Night
> 
> I'll Be Home For Christmas
> 
> Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas
> 
> Baby, It's Cold Outside
> 
> O Come All Ye Faithful
> 
> Carol of the Bells
> 
> We Three Kings
> 
> O Come O Come Emmanuel
> 
> Merry Christmas, Darling


End file.
